♫Wonderful Days♫Prince of tennis♫Hyotei♫

♫27♫ His answer

"You... I-woah..." He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. 

Even the usually oblivious him must know what she meant, her words were as clear as day. Sakura Ranfa confessed her feelings to him, the him who never considered a thing about love before...

He wondered since when. Since when did his kouhai started having feelings for him? He's usually good at noticing changes in people so he wondered why he was oblivious to her.

"Sakura..." He put his hand over her own.

Ranfa smiled at the warm touch; Shishido may not seem like it but he's a warm person at heart. Ranfa liked Shishido a lot, starting from small things such as his voice to other things such as how hard working he was and his passion for tennis. Most of all, she was very happy when he found her when she was lost in the maze-like forest...

"I can't accept your feelings."

Shishido gently held her hand and moved it away from his heart.

It was Ranfa's turn to look unsure. Her face clearly told him she doesn't understand the origin of his answer. She thought he liked her too, that's why he came looking for her the other day, right?

"I can't accept your feelings for me, Sakura. It's not like you're not a great girl, it's just... I want to focus more on tennis."

"Why did you pause for a second there?"

"I am not pausing." 

"Senpai, you're lying to me. Why are you lying to me?" He looked away from her when she asked him that.

"Listen, I can't have anything distracting me from tennis..."

"Do I look like the type to take over your time from doing something you enjoy?"

"No, I'm not saying you're in the way! It's just...I never saw you that way at all. You're my like a little sister to me, I don't think I can see you in a romantic way."

"Oh." There's nothing more to say apart from that.

"You're not mad, are you?" Shishido doesn't want her to be mad at him or anything.

"It's fine." Ranfa removed her hand from his and sighed, "Ahh, how troublesome. That was my first ever time to confess to a boy too."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't say sorry. It's not like you have to like me back just because I confessed..."

"I do like you, just in a way a brother likes his little sister."

"Ah. I know." Ranfa smiled at him regardless.

"Let's pretend this never happened, all right?" He patted her head, before starting to head inside the cottage.

"Ah, crap." Ranfa sighed, "I shouldn't have done that..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning came peacefully for the team. They're enjoying yet another of Atobe's high class style breakfast.

"It's only breakfast, why do you have to be so high classed about everything?" Shishido complained to Atobe.

"Ore-sama enjoys what is best. Na, Kabaji?"

"Usu."

"If it tastes good, I will eat anything." Gakuto said to Shishido, "Only people like you would complain about good things to eat."